In June Mr Green promised that all of the questions about his consortium and investors in Rangers would be answered “in seven days”. Well, he did not say which seven days!

However last night he has addressed one of the issues – the mysterious Blue Pitch Holdings. His statement from the official Rangers site is below, with my comments beneath.

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CHARLES GREEN, Chief Executive, issued the following statement today:

“There has been renewed speculation and media comment recently regarding the current shareholders in The Rangers Football Club. A full list of current shareholders will be published in the share prospectus which will be issued within the next few weeks.

“A lot of attention has focused on investment funds which have taken a shareholding in the Club to date.

“For example, I would like to clarify that in the case of Blue Pitch Holdings, the legal beneficiary is Mazen Houssami and not Arif Naqvi of Abraaj Capital. Mr Naqvi is a personal friend of mine and I approached him early on in the process about a shareholding but he has not proceeded on the basis that the investment fell outside the core geography he invests in.”

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We can therefore expect the prospectus in a “few weeks”. Even better, this is the “next” few weeks!

A full list of current shareholders is to be published. Bearing in mind that previously Mr Green announced it would be breaking the law to reveal some of the shareholders, this is an interesting change in his stance. I wonder if any present shareholders would be looking to divest themselves of their shareholding prior to publication of the list in the prospectus?

Blue Pitch Holdings and Mazen Houssami

As far as Blue Pitch Holdings is concerned, we have the name of Mazen Houssami as “the legal beneficiary”.

He has been mentioned before.

Back in May, STV reported the following taken from an interview with Mr Green on the official Rangers website:-

“I can now provide two names, as I have clearance to do so on their part, of investors who are on the list.

“One guy is Jude Allen who is an Indonesian investor and the second is a lawyer from the Middle East Mazen Houssami.

“These two are very prominent in their areas. It’s a great opportunity for us to build on their experience, their connections in those regions because we want to take the Rangers brand into these areas.

“There are other names but for today they are two very prominent businessmen who are backing the football club.

“The reluctance to reveal investors initially was because a lot of these investors are offshore trusts and individuals who didn’t want their name in the press and media because they, like everyone else in the world, have been watching the Rangers story unfold through the media since February and indeed before that and these people are not publicity seekers.”

Now the people who are not publicity seekers will have such thrust upon them, it appears.

What of Mr Houssami?

There is surprisingly little, at first sight, on the Internet regarding Mr Houssami, other than reports from numerous sources of Mr Green’s comments in May, referred to above.

There is a lawyer in Lebanon by that name, listed on the Bar Association of Beirut website as “Mazen Husami”. LinkedIn takes you back to the similarly names Mr Houssami. I assume, as someone with no knowledge of Arabic, that either can be a translation of the family name.

There is a “Mazen Nabil Houssami” listed as Senior Legal Counsel to the Tameer Holding Investment LLC. That company is described as – one of the region’s leading developers, with a number of prestigious projects throughout the region. In 2008, Tameer Towers project in Shams, Abu Dhabi, on Al Reem Island, was announced by International Property Awards the single most accredited development in the world. Tameer is also developing Madinat Al Majd in Amman, Jordan, in collaboration with Jordan’s Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDC).

The helpfully vague description of Mr Houssami as a “Middle East” lawyer means that it could be either the Lebanese lawyer of that name practising in Beirut, or the United Arab Emirates based Counsel with Tameer. Indeed, they could be the same man. I have emailed Tameer to ask.

Mr Green of course has history in the Middle East construction game. He was deputy Chairman of Panceltica Holdings. This was a Qatar-based construction company which worked on projects across the Middle East, including in the UAE.

It collapsed into liquidation, and Ecojon has already provided some interesting history regarding it on this site.

The Daily Telegraph in 2008 reported on the bright future which Panceltica had. In particular, it spoke to Mr Green, the Deputy Chairman.

Panceltica, a Qatar-based construction group, will today become the biggest company to list on Aim so far this year. The company, which will float at 100p with a market capitalisation of £236m, is hoping to benefit from the ongoing building boom in the Gulf States.

Panceltica is rolling out a new type of technology …”It’s like putting together a Meccano kit,” explained Charles Green, Panceltica’s deputy chairman.

While Panceltica is not bringing in any new money at this stage, it raised £55m several months ago via the increasingly popular route of pre-IPO financing. This allows companies to obtain new funds without having to worry about the immediate market conditions.

“Clearly you couldn’t pick a worse time to float from a market point of view,” Mr Green noted. “But we’re not concerned about whether the market is good or bad having already done our financing. The amount of management time spent doing an IPO is huge, so getting the fundraising out of the way lets us go back to building houses as opposed to carrying out due diligence.”

Panceltica is confident it can profit from the rapidly-expanding construction market in the Gulf States and house brokers Hichens Harrison are forecasting that pre-tax profits will rise from $27.7m (£13.8m) this year to $59.1m next year and $93m in 2009.

Some investors may be uncomfortable with the complex relationships between the company and its shareholders and customers. For example, Barwa is Panceltica’s biggest customer as well as being a major shareholder with a seat on the board.

However, the directors and strategic investors have entered into a series of relationship agreements so that shareholders will not be able to exert influence over any material contracts where there is a conflict of interest. (All emphases added)

So we had a company coming to the AIM with a huge capitalisation – with great hopes for profits – with the company having just raised a huge sum pre-IPO – with an acknowledgement that an IPO involves a huge expenditure of management time – and with concerns for investors about the close connections of the company to its major shareholders. Hmmm.

It was in liquidation two years later, with the market capitalisation of £236 million reduced to dust.

Is this where Mr Green came into contact with Mr Houssami? Is this a connection from his building days? If so, then clearly Mr Houssami has done far better out of the construction business than Panceltica did!

Presumably the prospectus will give us more details about the mysterious Mr Houssami. After all, Mr Green has promised this!

Arif Naqvi of Abraaj Capital

This man is a hugely successful businessman. It was thought that he was the man behind Blue Pitch Holdings. Again Ecojon has done sterling work on here looking into his background.

But, as Mr Green says, whilst he is a friend to Mr Green, this investment does not fit in “the core geography he (Mr Naqvi) invests in”.

The website for Abraaj Capital states:-

“The Abraaj Capital Group is a leading private equity manager investing in global growth markets. Founded in 2002 by Arif Naqvi, the group has raised over US$ 8 billion and distributed c. US$ 3.5 billion to investors. Employing over 300 people, the group has 33 offices spread across seven regional hubs in Bogota, Dubai, Istanbul, London, Mumbai, Nairobi and Singapore.

Funds managed by the group have holdings in over 150 partner companies that collectively employ in excess of 100,000 people and create sustainable value in sectors including manufacturing, education, retail, aviation, oil and gas, financial payments infrastructure, healthcare and agribusiness. The group’s current partner companies include industry leaders such as Network International, the largest independent payment solutions provider in the Middle East and Africa, Al Borg Laboratories, the Middle East’s largest privately owned medical testing laboratory, Brookside Dairy, the largest dairy in East Africa, and Iasacorp, a long established family run women’s retail business in Peru.”

So we have a “global” growth market investor, with 33 offices across South America, the Middle East, Turkey, LONDON, India, Africa and the Far East.

It has invested in numerous companies round much of the world.

However, despite having a London office, sadly for Mr Green the investment portfolio for the company does not extend geographically to Rangers… That might mean that Scotland falls outwith its investments areas, or the UK, or Western Europe…or maybe only as far as Govan…

Whilst its focus is stated as being “the rapidly growing economies of the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and South East Asia” the location of its offices and stated investments shows that it does put funds into businesses outside the core areas.

It is also fair to say that the success of the Group does not seem to come from turning down investments likely to be of financial benefit to its clients!

Maybe the prospects of success, in addition to the location, gave Mr Naqvi cold feet. Maybe the investment Mr Green wanted from his friend was not large enough to be worth their while. Maybe Mr Naqvi’s personal investment strategy, as opposed to that of his company, excludes Western Europe…

Was the investment Mr Green sought one from the company or from Mr Naqvi personally? Maybe someone could ask one of them?

So, even when Mr Green answers a question, more arise.

Where is the “Middle East” lawyer, Mr Houssami, based?

Is he a Beirut practitioner, or Legal Counsel to a huge UAE operation?

Is he an old pal of Mr Green from Panceltica days?

Is Mr Houssami a personal investor, or the front man for a group of investors/speculators/old pals of Mr Green?

What about Mr Naqvi?

Was it a request from Mr Green that his company should invest, or was it directed to him personally?

Why wait till now to deny his involvement when it has been rumoured since May?

How is Mr Green going to cope with the huge amount of management time needed to organise an IPO, bearing in mind the prospectus is due in a few weeks?

Who are the remaining mysterious investors?

These and many more will, hopefully, be answered as soon as possible and at latest in the eagerly awaited prospectus.

Maybe Mr Naqvi is a Tim.
I am completely confused and maybe I’m backward, but how on Earth (geographically that is) do guys like Whyte and Green make money? From the information both yourself and ecojon have given us (on which you both must be congratulated) over the last week alone, it seems these lads stagger from financial failure to financial failure, sometimes participating at several at one time. If I’ve missed something from the past I apologise, but would it be possible to find out what, if any, successes these lads have had? A sort of goals for and goals against. How do they manage to get their hands on such finances over and over again only for the results turn to ‘dust’? Or am I basically misunderstanding the situation?

@hawkeyethegnu no sound successful business man would touch sevco with a barge pole when you look at it its all dodgy daves in suits ,they fleece company after company its voodoo economics thats why we are having all our services cut and the whole world is skint bar these spivs is the duff name tu a think we are well close to outting greens investors

I like the phrase ‘ voodoo economics,’ there does seem to be dark arts involved somewhere. I had know idea that such consistant chicanery, by what in this case, seems to be a circle of aquaintances, would be allowed.

Most financial failures are actually for the later arriving people buying shares from what I can see. The ones in at the beginning generally flog their shares and get out with a load of dosh.

There is then the operation of the market where all sorts of things go on that ordinary punters don’t have a clue about. But the sharks do and they make share prices do all sorts of things and all the while they are going up or down the sharks make money as they know in which direction they are driving the company shares.

So in the biggest failures you often have the biggest profits, All investing in markets as far as I am concerned is exactly the same as entering a Casino. And the more you think you know, like stepping up from playing red or black at roulette to Blackjack, the more you will end up losing.

The percentages are always in the casino’s favour and by the time they realise the little man is skint but because it is no different from gambling a stake will be gathered together somehow to have another go. It’ll be better next time – no it won’t :(

How do these guys sleep at night? They set up ventures, making them seem attractive, bet on the result of the share movement whilst knowing which direction they are going to move and then sell them on, knowing they are selling on something that is, after they have finished with it, at a false face value, maybe in reality worthless or worse. Am I getting close to how the operation/scam works? It makes the plot of the film ‘The Sting’ simplistic.

@jono biggest club in scotland am telling ya and the deals as cheap as chips with big return would you like a other cup of tetley sign er we have the sfa and alex from the goverment on board you cant go wrong .

great read paul is green throwing duff names in the frame can the sfa throw some light on this as they had to do a fit and proper test on the new investors for green to get licence ”It’s like putting together a Meccano kit,” easier said than done lol a man of the standing of a lawyer would not have typo errors in his name as it would be as we all no business and financial typo errors can be seen as a liability and can make docos nil and void a feel the net is closing on green and his lies and lack of transparacy, lets hope his bubble bursts when BDO take center stage or will the clatters out it all for them

@jimbhoy you better stock up on the pop corn and cola as we are in for a nightmare film with the big tax bomb round the corner ,and it looks like were closing in on greens lies the spin will be well intregueing

Of the money raised so far (£5.5m is lodged with the lawyers Taylor Wessing, as confirmed by Simon Shipperley of Duff and Phelps at the fans’ meeting), £2m has come from Singaporean investors, £2m from another major investor, with the remainder split.

Having closed the initial round of funding with £10m raised, Green says he will entertain a second round of investment with a maximum of £4m per investor.

Green also referred to a £10m stadium-naming deal with “an airline investor or alternative”.

Green has stated that the legal beneficiary of Blue Pitch Holdings is Mazen Houssami. I am not a lawyer nor an AIM fronter but am I right in thinking that, if Mr Green’s statement is taken literally, that Mr Houssami might not have any personal money invested in Blue Pitch Holdings or Rangers but might only be the legal representative for the actual investors in Blue Pitch Holdings.

In posing that question I should state however that chico previously stated Mr Housami was an investor but this may have changed because he also previously identified Alessandro Celano as representing Blue Pitch Holdings (However it was always felt that Celano was a front-man for Naqvi and may have departed the scene to be replaced by Houssami).

Previously named as investors were Colin Mather and his business partner; the former Scottish-registered company Glenmuir (now part of Bolton-based Ruau Group); Malaysian hotelier Jude Allan, aka Javed Abdullah; Elias Kaisar; Jean Haddad; Chris Morgan, a UK-based businessman representing family trusts; Ian Hart; Zeus Capital; and recently Imran Ahmad. I suppose we can thrown in Chico and Ally as they must be good for a few shares shurrlllly.

That takes me up to 11 Investors, och let’s throw-in Ashley as well. So who are where are the other 7 as Green said last week there are 19?

But chico gave a guarantee on STV that the prospectus will show: ‘ Who the investors were, the original shareholders, how much money they put in, who is the current shareholders, who are applying for shares’.

Chico also confirmed the SFA and SFL have a full list of shareholders.

The Glasgow Herald also named the infamous Interpol fugitive Rafat Rizvi as one of Green’s consortium as well as Mike McDonald, former Sheffield United chairman, who has invested in a number of AIM businesses that Green has been involved with. However Green denied the involvement of both men as investors in Rangers.

It’s possible that Green did meet Naqvi when he was promoting Panceltica – ahm sure there will be plenty of up-market chinese restaurants in Dubai – but I think it may have been sooner when he was expanding Medical Solutions Plc into the Middle East c2004. Things didn’t go very well there either for the company or Charlie its chief executive but in case you have forgotten read all about it here:

So a guy called Whyte took the already savagely beaten, but ultimately salvageable, carcass of a football club and ensured that the knife was plunged-in, twisted and caused the fatal wound. Then a guy called Green, formerly the head of a company called PanCELTICa comes along, and performs Dr Frankenstein style surgery on the corpse and tries to convince us he’s doing it for the good of the people (while all reasonable observers are convinced he’s looking to cut and run).

All the while there’s rumours that Messrs Green and White have known each other for some time…

Now, I’m no conspiracy theorist, but if I was one of the boys in blue I’d be asking some serious questions.

@ecojon its a no news day havering is well ok a was reading a wee article there on tsfm

It is no accident that HMRC’s (the largest of the former Rangers’ unsecured creditors, potentially owed a colossal £95M) preferred liquidator in this case is BDO. Malcolm Cohen of BDO, who has been appointed to head up the Liquidation Team, is an man of renown, a specialist in what is known as ‘contentious insolvency’. Contentious Insolvency experts specialise in dealing with high profile, criminal and controversial insolvencies involving fraud, litigation and international asset tracing.

if a was murray and co a would be blowing the dust of the passport and heading to somewere they dont exridtion lol

“He also added: “What other country in the world would deal with one of their biggest clubs in the way they have and demote them to the Third Division.”

Wrong again, Craig. Rangers had to go there because they were a new club starting over.

How on earth did that happen?”

So, even Jim Traynor knows it’s a new club.

I think the Record can expect a fall in readership numbers, and they must have already had a stack of complaints. Maybe Jim’s moving to the Scottish Sun? He should just do everyone a favour, and move to another galaxy.

jabba a tried to get on the show yesterday a said should we not keep levien in place as the big tax bomb is here and the sfa are going to have to clear out all the ebt takers so we need some stability at team level ok we will call you back they never did lol

Well done Paul. With regard to Arif Naqvi, you pose the question “Why wait till now to deny his involvement when it was rumoured since May?”

First of all, it was not “rumoured” that Arif Naqvi was a major shareholder in The Rangers. It was categorically trumpeted throughout the football and financial world, without denial from Charlie. For example, on 24th August, BBC’s Chris McLaughlin declared clearly and unequivocally that “The Dubai-based business man is currently the single largest shareholder in Rangers. Arif Naqvi, chief executive of private equity firm Abraaj Capital, owns just under 18% after agreeing to invest £2m back in June”. Who was the source of that information?

Similarly on 25th August ArabianBusiness.com also stated unambiguously, and without contradiction from Charlie, “Abraaj Boss [Arif Naqvi] Named as Top Rangers Shareholder”. Who named him?

Even RangersMedia reported on Arif Naqvi’s investment: “Arif Masood Naqvi is the largest shareholder of Rangers, currently holding 18% of shares”. Once again, sans correction from Charlie.

Now things begin to hot up. On 19th October – last Friday – the influential and respected The Times publish the same information as above: “The largest shareholder [in The Rangers] is the Dubai businessman Arif Naqvi, chief executive of Abraaj Capital, a private equity firm, who holds 4 million of the 25.5 million shares through a vehicle called Blue Pitch Holdings”. Now, the interesting bit is that the reporter – Alex Ralph – reveals his source at the end of that last sentence… “according to a shareholder list issued to The Times by Rangers”. The title of the piece also confirms the source: “Rangers Reveal Who Rode to Their Rescue”. The very next day Charlie corrects this claim, feebly announcing “For example, I would like to clarify that in the case of Blue Pitch Holdings, the legal beneficiary… is not Arif Naqvi… Mr Naqvi… [I] approached him… about shareholding… not proceeded…” He then adds for effect some gobbledygook about “core geography”. In other words, Arif Naqvi is not a shareholder at The Rangers, major or otherwise.

For months Arif Naqvi was not only a shareholder, but the largest shareholder in The Rangers. For months this information went unchallenged by Charlie. On 19th October The Times report that a shareholder list supporting this claim was sent to them “by Rangers”. On 20th October Charlie makes an announcement to the contrary.

Fans of The Rangers, or whatever you want to call yourselves, you really need to start asking questions.

I have never had any doubt about Naqvi since I discovered his wife had a shareholding with Celan in the London design company. That was reinforced by emails to Abraj Capital and his personal lawyer totally blanking my emails. I emailed the boss of the law firm which is an international company and again blank.

My emails were professional but made it clear that if they weren’t answered then I would state that Naqvi was an investor in Rangers. It would have been the easiest thing in the world to state he wasn’t an investor if he wasn’t and if he wasn’t then there was no probs telling me – as I explained to them, either way I had a story.

I used to think there was a connection between Naqvi and Green but then I could never really figure out why he would want to be involved with Rangers even in the SPL as he could buy most Premiership teams. But when I came across chico’s involvement in Dubai with Medical Solutions Plc all to do with diagnostic testing I began to think the connection was Naqvi’s wife who does an astounding amount of work for the poor and especially women and children and could well have been involved with the facilities that Medical Solutions had to sell to stay afloat before Green departed the company. Again the Celano connection with Naqvi’s wife reinforced it for me.

Whatever happened and I think this was a while ago – I think Naqvi realised this was not an enterprise he wished any association with and he pulled out or that this was done after the CVA failed. I do not think he will be very pleased at what has now happened.

I didn’t see ‘The Times’ piece but I saw two Gulf Financial papers running the story and wondered why they had suddenly got interested and named Naqvi who is a very very powerful guy in The Gulf and the fact his name was associated with a Rangers investment would have almost certainly interested others.

Interestingly I saw somewhere recently that Blue Pitch was still running at 17-18% of shareholding and the gigs given in The Times piece are interesting because the number of sales in the flotation has moved up from around 22.2 million to 25.5 million and the 4 million shares supposedly held by Naqvi is just a shade over 18% which ties it in quite nicely.

So what happened to Naqvi’s shares – did other Blue Pitch consortium members take them on or is there a £4 million blackhole in funding which has opened-up. If Naqvi or his wife put in £4 million and wants it back then I think they will get it back. So what about the SFA and SFL were they given Naqvi’s name for the ‘fit and proper’ test?

Who did they check with? Is that a service Zeus Capital would have provided to the football authorities. If so are Zeus, who chico says still has shares, engaging a reverse gear or have they taken on Naqvi’s unwanted bundle?

I note btw that Imran Ahmad is still listed as the MD at Zeus Capital on their website.

And not that it means anything but quite right that the Times of London should be given the shareholders list before the Bears of Ibrox or even Rangers TV – it’ll never raised that £100 million a year profit if it keeps giving its exclusives away for free. Or perhaps it might have worried the audience to see a grown-man weep at the thought of £4 million going walkies :)

Maybe Charlie thought The Times wouldn’t disclose where they got the information from (no more tip-offs for them then?). If they had used the ‘our source’ line, would Charlie have came out and corrected them?

He might be prepering The Rangers fans for the Prospectus, by drip feeding them a few home truths. If so, there will probably be a few more quashing of rumours etc. over the next few weeks. If not, the Prospectus will be like a sporting version of ‘Alice in Wonderland’, written by someone who was listening to ‘Lucy in the Sky with Dimonds’ whilst typing it out.

@coybig if at point of printing the dip the paper in lucy then when they are reading it the will start to trip and the more they read the more they will belive due to vapours entering there system via sweat glands in hands tripping stuff or what lol

Ehhhmmmm,,,,naw what we need is to get a decent centre half like big Davie Weir(i would love that legend back at Ibrox), practise deadball deliveries,i mean come on its basic stuff Ally!
Get Templeton fully fit and keep big Kevin away fae the spare pies.If we can nobble a few of the talented plumbers and painters in the other teams with homers at Ibrox then we might just sneak another title.
The atmosphere is great just now and the financial crap will soon be over,,,once the loon ball hate brigade see that we don’t give a toss what they spout then they will go away and interfere with some other poor sod.

The Companies Act 2006 codifies the duties of company directors into a statutory statement of seven general duties, as follows:
1) Duty to act within your powers as a company director
2) Duty to promote the success of your company
3) Duty to exercise independent judgement
4) Duty to exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence
5) Duty to avoid conflicts of interest
6. Duty not to accept benefits from third parties
7) Duty to declare interest in proposed transaction or arrangement with the company

a little of topic but does the above mean that ogilvie and smith will have to stand aside as soon as the big tax bomb is made official due to conning the taxman via ebts also number4 if green is a con man who ever did the fit and proper on him have failed in there dutys to do proper diligence number 4 should have the sfa disbanded due to whyte and thats with out the ebts

I think that the above will mean whatever the loon ball that put that up on one of your obsessed sites wants it to mean!
Whisper it but seemingly some guy with a stupid name ,,Zapruder,,or something, claims to have footage of CO running about Centre 1 with a jumbo size bottle of Tippex.
The reason it took so long for the tax verdict was finding enough sober Tic fans to piece together all that cross shredded paperwork.
Slightly off topic,,but just think how the freaks behind the RTC must feel knowing that an unemployed social worker fuelled by hate and shunned by his peers can make money out of his pamphlet while they stay hidden.
What a Xmas panto they could make.

The list of shareholders supplied to The Times by Rangers list the 2nd biggest shareholder after Naqvi as: The Margarita Funds Holding Trust which Rangers thinks is based in the Turks & Caicos Islands. Well wherever it is it has 2.6 million shares :)

Blue Pitch Holdings, a vehicle controlled by Abraaj Capital chief executive Arif Naqvi, is the largest shareholder of Rangers Football Club with a 15.68% stake, according to details of the Scottish franchise’s top investors published following pressure from fans’ groups.

Other prominent investors include Margarita Funds Holding Trust, a fund believed by Rangers to be based in the Turks and Caicos Islands, which holds 10.19%, and finance company Zeus Capital. A consortium of almost 19 investors, led by Rangers chief executive and venture capitalist Charles Green, acquired the club out of liquidation in June for £5.5m.

What kind of weirdo stocks sites he complains about every time he comments don’t you have anything constructive to add cam or is it just pety name calling your team is owned by dodgey saves in suits and am loving it the have no loyalty to yous and will fleeces yous well dry am loving it the tributes as bent as the dead club yous are a mess the mess and shame of sport cheating for 15years to boost your egos what a joke your club and culture has become ,the rfc types shameless and blinkered by a man called green and killed of by a man called whyte green and whyte doing yous while tu are waiting in the back ground pmsl

Ecojon ave just grasped the importance of all this what a investigation you have carried out suberb it’s as big as the liquidation it’s self am sure bdo will love all this you have just saved them time and money also today leaves the sfa with egg in there face due diligence

Obviously the strolling troller didn’t know his club’s 2nd biggest shareholder is called Margarita FFS and Rangers thinks she may live in Turks & Caicos – mair like Wine Alley methinks :)

Nae wonder he’s unhappy LMAO.

Oh and their declared biggest sharehold – declared by Gawd himself – isn’t and never has been a shareholder – roll-up roll-up buy your shares here – you couldn’t make it up and they want to hand hin £20 million.

I really hope it was all Tic Pledges that were made or there’s soon gonna be a lotta of sick bears.

The popular story is the name Turks being derived after the indigenous Turk’s Head “fez” cactus, pictured on the left, and the name Caicos, a Lucayan term “caya hico,” meaning string of islands.

A more romantic, origin of the name is a reflection of the Islands’ pirate history, when 17th and 18th century pirates used the islands as hideouts and preyed upon the passing Spanish treasure ships bound for Europe. The term “Turk” for a pirate stemmed two centuries earlier when the Ottoman Empire dominated the Mediterranean and Turkish corsairs harried European Atlantic shipping, thus translated “Turks” Islands becomes “Pirate” Islands!

Your wife will have come across Sarakino Bay which is a common name in the Med where pirate ships used to hide out. To be fair they were a pretty mixed collection of nationalities and religions and not just the Turks although a lot of captured slaves were sold in the bazaars of Constantinople.

Google is just soooo cool,,,it sounds like you actually know WTF you are gibbering about!
I think i may just leave Google aside for a wee moment and hazard a guess that you may very well be a trumpet who specialises in talking Turkish delight
Her’s a Googly for you.
The Gers obey the first law of thermodynamics in that they can be changed from one form to another but not created or destroyed.
Now the second law involves entropy which to my simplistic mind is a nasty wee bugger which basically leeches energy.
Ergo Eco=Entropy.
This equation whilst not on a par with Einsteins best works may explain the awful lethargy that comes over me when i see the volume of Turkish that you spout.
Now you will have to excuse me while i attempt to launch the verdict of the BTC towards the Crab Nebula at near light speed,which if successful will result in the Gers fate not being discovered until we win the CL.

Great read. i am sure the similarities with Ra Rangers are purely coincidental. This will be a MSM exclusive in about 3 months. Anyhow Paul, if you substitute Panceltica with TRFC in the blog above and adjust some of the numbers, you already have your Christmas blog written, but i am not revealing which Christmas.
keep up the great work

Dod anyone else pick up on the name of the gentleman replacing Mr Naqvi re Blue Pitch. his name sounds like ‘Who saw me?’. in 3 months time when he walks away (no pun intended) with his pockets bulging, his 1st name will be revealed. my guess is it will be ‘Nawan’. LOL